GOOGLE INC

HTC Amaze 4G, which was released in October for T-Mobile, is expected to face immense pressure from Samsung Galaxy S2, which is considered to be the best Android smartphone yet.

Jefferies & Co. downgraded its rating on shares of Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) to hold from buy with a price target of $18, after the company announced the appointment of PayPal's President Scott Thompson as new chief executive officer and director effective Jan. 9.

Robert W. Baird said its technology team has identified ten key themes that it expects to drive investment opportunities in 2012, across a range of technology verticals.

Take a look at the specifications of LG Nitro HD and Apple iPhone 4S:

The HTC Amaze 4G, which was released in October for T-Mobile, is expected to face immense competition from the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which was made available in November for Verizon Wireless.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is expected to hit the U.S. market in January 2012. However, the latest news suggests that pre-order stock available at both Best Buy and GameStop has been sold out and is currently listed as not being available.

2011 has been a very exciting year for smartphones thanks to the number of devices that flooded the market, and the trend is expected to continue in 2012.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers Friday are: Web.com Group, TASER International, SORL Auto Parts, Globecomm Systems, Bank of the Ozarks, Research In Motion, and Google. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Sonus Networks, Vitesse Semiconductor, ZAGG, Xenoport, and Rediff.com India.

Robert W. Baird believes that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) finished 2011 on a strong note, with healthy Search and e-commerce trends likely driving upside to consensus estimates. The brokerage reiterated its outperform rating on shares of Google, while increasing its price target to $760 from $700.

HTC Amaze 4G, which was released in October for T-Mobile, is expected to see or give stiff competition to Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, which is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) version of the Galaxy S2 and debuted Nov 6 in AT&T network.

A smartphone is no longer a style statement, rather it is a necessity. So there is no wonder that 2011 has been an exciting year for smartphones. A number of smartphones flooded the market this year and the phones manufactured by HTC stole a considerable share in the market.

Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc. in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail.

They can make in a month what the average worker earns in a lifetime. Many go about in private jets, employ multiple secretaries and glad-hand dignitaries and world leaders. Perched at the top of major corporations around the world, the chief executive officer blazes trails, inspires awe and commands attention. But under such immense scrutiny, when the CEO slips, the rest of the world takes notice.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Pinnacle Financial Partners, ARM Holdings, Randgold Resources, Infosys, Research In Motion, Amazon.com, Google, and Apple. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Cavium, Sears Holdings, Windstream, and Cisco Systems.

The year 2011 was one in which smartphones and tablets achieved a status of necessity, instead of being style statement which they used to be in the past, thanks to Apple and Google.

Lumia 800, which Nokia's best high-end smartphone and is the fruit of its partnership with Microsoft, is rumored to hit the U.S. market in January 2012. It will, however, face immense pressure from LG Nitro HD, which has more specifications.

Ever since Motorola adopted Android ecoystem, its fortunes have changed and there is no looking back for the company.

The much-anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is finally available in Verizon Wireless.

Computer maker ASUS' Eee Pad Transformer Prime is expected to hit the U.S. market in 2012 but a rumor suggests the 32GB Amethyst Gray version could be made available to certain pre-ordered customers after Christmas.

The LG Nitro HD, which was made available on AT&T's network from Dec. 4, is expected to face heavy competition from the HTC Rezound, which was made available on Verizon's network from Nov. 14.

This year saw Android smartphones grow by leaps and bounds and Google Inc. release the latest version of its Operating System - Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich - in the latter half of the year.